“The Land of the Fine Triremes:” Naval Identity and Polis Imaginary in 5th Century Athens by C. Jacob Butera Department of Classical Studies Duke University Date: Approved: Sheila Dillon, Supervisor Peter Euben Joshua Sosin William Johnson Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classical Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 ABSTRACT “The Land of the Fine Triremes:” Naval Identity and Polis Imaginary in 5th Century Athens by C. Jacob Butera Department of Classical Studies Duke University Date: Approved: Sheila Dillon, Supervisor Peter Euben Joshua Sosin William Johnson An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classical Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 Copyright by C. Jacob Butera 2010 Abstract This dissertation focuses on the artistic, archaeological, and literary representation and commemoration of the Classical Athenian navy. While the project stresses the various and often contradictory ways in which the Athenians perceived and represented their navy, its larger purpose is to argue that the integration of multiple and various media has the potential to change long-standing interpretations of ancient societies and cultures. Relying on the literary evidence of the “Old-Oligarch” and Plato, scholars have traditionally held that the 5th-century Athenian navy and its rowers were viewed by their contemporaries as a “mob” and a locus for citizen “riff-raff.” Yet careful consideration of the vases, monuments, and buildings of 5th-century Athens, as well as the literary output of the period, demonstrate that the navy held a far more complex, and at times even positive, position in Athenian society. iv Table of Contents Abstract iv List of Figures vii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Methodology 5 1.2 The Problem 9 1.3 Review of Literature 15 1.4 Chapter Outline 18 2. Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Naval Imagery and Athenian Vase Painting from the Geometric to the Classical Period 22 2.1 Death and Display: Geometric Vase Painting and Naval Iconography 24 2.2 The Symposium at Sea: Naval Imagery and Athenian Black-Figure Vase Painting of the Archaic Period 29 2.3 The Vanishing Fleet: Ship Imagery and Red-Figure Vases of the Classical Period 34 3. “The Many Things Fit to be Seen:” The Navy and the Visual Landscape of 5th-century Athens 54 3.1 “The Aretê of These Men:” The Fleet and Rowers in Monuments of War 56 3.2 “The Beauty of Those Things Set Up for the People:” The Ship- Sheds, the Long Walls, and the Public Image of the 5th Century Athenian Navy 74 3.3 Poseidon and Athens: Sea, Sanctuary, and Ritual in Classical Athens 88 4. “Master of the Ship:” Naval Identity and 5th Century Athenian Literature 109 4.1 “Lain Low by the Ramming Ships:” Aeschylus’ Persians and Naval v Imagery after Salamis 116 4.2 Prudence and Plundering: The Representation of the Navy in Aristophanes’ Knights 134 4.3 “Those Who are the Stronger:” Thucydides, the Melian Dialogue, and Naval Identity at the Close of the 5th-Century 149 5. Conclusion: “The Land of the Fine Triremes” 164 Appendix 172 Works Cited 209 Biography 240 vi List of Figures: Figure. 1. Monumental Attic Geometric funerary amphora of the Dipylon group depicting a scene of prothesis, c. 750 BCE (Athens, National Archaeological Museum, NM 804) 172 Figure 2. Prothesis scene from a monumental Attic Geometric funerary amphora of the Dipylon group, c. 750 BCE (Athens, National Archaeological Museum, NM 804) 173 Figure 3. Fragment of an Attic Geometric krater depicting a scene of battle around a warship, c. 760-735 BCE (Paris, Musée du Louvre, A 527) 173 Figure 4. Attic Geometric krater depicting a scene of battle around a beached war- ship, c. 735-710 BCE (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 34.11.2) 174 Figure 5. Detail of an Attic Geometric krater depicting a scene of battle around a beached warship, c. 735-710 BCE (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 34.11.2) 174 Figure 6. Attic Geometric bowl portraying an oared vessel, perhaps in a scene of departure, c. 735-710 BCE (London, British Museum, XCII B 65) 175 Figure 7. Attic Geometric cup with the image of an oared ship, c. 850-800 BCE (Morrison and Williams 1968, Geom. 26) 175 Figure 8. Attic Geometric skyphos with a scene of battle around a beached war- ship, c. 850-800 BCE (Eleusis, Eleusis Archeological Museum, 741) 175 Figure 9. Fragments of two Attic Geometric votive plaques from the Acropolis, each preserving the prow of a ship, 8th-7th cent. BCE. (Boardman 1954, no. 1-2) 176 Figure 10. Fragment of an early proto-Attic vessel depicting a ship with at least to banks of oars, c. 700-650 BCE (Athens, National Archaeological Museum, NM fragment) 176 Figure 11. Early Attic black-figure hydria from Eretria with the image of a ship with a boar’s head ram on its shoulder, c. 600-550 BCE (Paris, Musée du Louvre, 735) 177 Figure 12. Fragment of an Attic Geometric vase highlighting each individual member of the crew, including the rowers and helmsman, c. 710-700 BCE (Athens, Agora Museum, 26817) 177 vii Figure 13. Fragment of an early proto-Attic plaque from Cape Sounion with carefully delineated hoplite crewmembers manning the oars, c. 700-650 BCE (Athens, National Archaeological Museum, NM fragment) 178 Figure 14. Attic black-figure cup depicting two ships with carefully rendered masts, riggings, and sails, c. 530-480 BCE (Paris, Musée du Louvre, F. 123) 178 Figure 15. Attic black-figure cup depicting two ships with carefully rendered masts, riggings, and sails, c. 530-480 BCE (Paris, Musée du Louvre, F. 123) 179 Figure 16. Attic black-figure dinos by Exekias highlighting the repetitiveness of the ships’ oars and the size of the vessels, c. 550-530 BCE (Rome, Villa Giulia Museum, 50599) 179 Figure 17. The Olympias trireme during its sea trials on the Aegean Sea 180 Figure 18. Attic black-figure band cup by the Tleson Painter with a miniaturistic depiction of a cockfight, c. 550-520 BCE (Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptotek, SL462) 180 Figure 19. Attic black-figure band cup with a miniaturastic depiction of numerous warriors perhaps in a scene of preparation or departure, c. 550-520 BCE (Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art, 1986.2) 181 Figure 20. Interior rim of an Attic black-figure dinos depicting a series of oared ships, c. 550-530 BCE (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, 3619) 181 Figure 21. Attic black-figure kylix depicting a merchant ship and a warship, c. 510 BCE (London, British Museum, B. 436) 182 Figure 22. Fragment of an Attic black-figure krater preserving a portion of a ship’s prow, oarsmen, sails, and rigging, c. 530-480 BCE (Copenhagen, National Museum, fragment) 182 Figure 23. Red-figure cup by the painter of London E2 with a series of ships around its rim, c. 490 BCE (London, British Museum, E22) 183 Figure 24. Attic black-figure dinos with a series of ships around its inner rim, c. 520-510 BCE (Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum, 92.AE.88) 183 Figure 25. Votive plaque from the Temple of Apollo Zoster in Vouliagmene with a rough etching of a ship, c. 550-500 BCE (Basch, 1987, fig. 476) 184 Figure 26. Bilingual amphora with a red-figure scene by the Andokides, highlighting the complicated depiction of overlapping tree branches in the background, viii c. 525-510 BCE (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 99.538) 184 Figure 27. Hydria by Phintias highlighting the artist’s ability to render delicate lyre strings in the red-figure technique, c. 525-510 BCE (Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptotek, 2421) 185 Figure 28. Stamnos by the Siren Painter, highlighting the artist’s ability to render ship’s rigging in the red-figure technique, c. 520-480 BCE (London, British Museum, E. 440) 185 Figure 29. Attic red-figure volute krater portraying the death of Talos; representation of the Argo is relegated to the side of the central panel, below one of the handles (fig. 30), c. 480-400 BCE (Ruvo, Museo Jatta, 1501) 186 Figure 30. Representation of the Argo from beneath the handle of an Attic red- figure volute krater depicting the death of Talos (fig. 27), c. 480-400 BCE (Ruvo, Museo Jatta, 1501) 187 Figure 31. Attic red-figure kalyx krater portraying Dionysos’ discovery of Ariadne; representation of Theseus’ ship is depicted to the side of the central panel, above one of the handles, c. 450-400 BCE (Syracuse, National Archaeological Museum, 17427) 187 Figure 32. Attic red-figure cup by the Briseis Painter representing Theseus’ journey to the underwater realm of Poseidon, c. 480 BCE (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 53.11.4) 188 Figure 33. Attic red-figure column krater by the Harrow painter depicting Theseus’ meeting with his father, Poseidon, c. 480-460 BCE (Cambridge, Sackler Museum, 1960.339) 188 Figure 34. Attic red-figure lekythos by a follower of the Providence Painter representing the winged figure of Boreas, the north wind, c. 470-450 BCE (New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, 1913.148) 189 Figure 35. Attic red-figure hydria with Boreas’ pursuit of the Athenian princess Oreithyia; Athena watches the scene from the right, c. 460-450 BCE (Basel, Antikenmuseum, BS 1906.296) 189 Figure 36. Attic red-figure hydria depicting Boreas’ capture of Oreithyia; the scene from the right, c. 460-450 BCE (Brunswick, Bowdoin College, 08.3) 190 Figure 37.